Month: September 2009 (Page 33 of 66)

      LT out for this weekend; NFL lifts Chargers blackout

      September 18, 2009 /

      The USA Today is reporting that LaDainian Tomlinson is officially listed as out for the Chargers’ home game this Sunday against the Ravens. But the good news for San Diego fans is that the NFL decided to lift its blackout for the game.

      The team expects the effects of an ankle injury suffered in Monday’s win against Oakland to be too much for Tomlinson to overcome.

      Darren Sproles and Michael Bennett will likely split carries for the Chargers in Tomlinson’s place when the Ravens arrive in San Diego for Sunday’s game.

      The NFL also lifted the blackout for Sunday’s game in San Diego after the Chargers satisfied their ticket-selling requirements.

      The Chargers had received a 24-hour extension to continue selling after Thursday’s deadline for games to sell out.

      Darren Sproles will get the start against the Ravens, although Michael Bennett will also see some carries.

      Glad to see the NFL lifted the blackout. It’s a ridiculous notion to make people pay hundreds of dollars to go to a game and then blackout a television broadcast if fans don’t fill the stadium. It makes me sick for fans in Jacksonville that all eight of the Jaguars home games won’t be shown on TV this season. People in this country work too damn hard not to be able to watch their favorite teams on Sunday.

      NFL

      Aaron Corp to start for USC?

      September 18, 2009 /

      According to a report by the Los Angeles Times, backup quarterback Aaron Corp looks like he’ll make his first career start against Washington unless freshman Matt Barkley can recover from a bruised right shoulder.

      Unless Barkley makes an improbable recovery from a bone bruise, Corp is on track to be under center when the Trojans open Pacific 10 Conference play on Saturday at Washington.

      Corp, who had entered training camp No. 1 on the depth chart, had a pass intercepted for the third consecutive practice. But he continued to show that he was no longer limited by the cracked fibula that he suffered on Aug. 10, an injury that opened the door for Barkley to start the first two games.

      Barkley was supposed to take part in a throwing session on Thursday but didn’t. I can’t imagine that Carroll would start a freshman quarterback on the road in USC’s Pac-10 opener – especially considering Corp is the backup.

      If it weren’t for the cracked fibula that he suffered in summer practice, Corp would have likely been the starter for the Trojans at the start of the season. But now that Barkley has a win at Columbus on his resume, it’s going to be hard for Corp to unseat Barkley when the freshman is healthy.

      That said, Corp is certainly good enough to stir up a quarterback controversy if he plays well this Saturday. Corp is smart, instinctive and a very accurate passer. Even though he’s had trouble with interceptions this week in practice, he usually doesn’t make many mistakes either. It’ll be interesting to see how he plays this weekend.

      College Football

      NFL Picks & Predictions: Week 2

      September 18, 2009 /

      Throughout the NFL season, I’ll pick four games every week that I tab as my “plays of the week.” I’ll keep track so readers can either cheer my knowledge or hammer my incompetence. Either way, it should be fun.

      Gamblers: Proceed with caution and never be afraid to fade.

      Rams at Redskins, 1:00PM ET FOX
      St. Louis only won two games last year and finished the season on a 10-game losing streak. But they were never shut out – not once. In their opener last week, the Rams were blanked by Seattle 28-0 and the schedule makers were gracious enough to send them back on the road this week. Washington isn’t the most explosive team in the NFL, but the Redskins can methodically beat teams (especially bad teams) by moving the chains with their West Coast Offense. The Rams’ defense was shredded for 167 rushing yards last week, so Clinton Portis should have no problems finding room to run this Sunday. If Jim Zorn were ever going to allow quarterback Jason Campbell to throw the ball vertically more in the offense, this would be the game because St. Louis’ secondary is a mess. Look for Albert Haynesworth to help bottle up Steven Jackson and for the Redskins to cruise to their first victory of the year.
      Odds: Redskins –9.5.
      Predictions: Redskins 27, Rams 10.

      Cardinals at Jaguars, 1:00PM ET FOX
      The Cardinals have issues and their loss last week to the 49ers proves it. Losing offensive playcaller Todd Haley was a killer and it’s going to take some time for Kurt Warner and the rest of Arizona’s offense to get adjusted. Also, receiver Anquan Boldin is hurt and can’t create separation in his routes and although “Beanie” Wells showed flashes of his potential, the running game is still a major concern for this team. That said, we should see a more inspired and focused Cardinals team this weekend in Jacksonville. Ken Whisenhunt is a fine coach and is going to do everything in his power not to let ‘Zona fall to 0-2. Jacksonville played an inspired game in Indianapolis last week, but the Jags are still lacking playmakers on the offensive side of the ball and the new additions to the offensive line need time to gel. So while Jacksonville is much improved, they still have issues and I see Arizona’s defense keeping Maurice Jones-Drew somewhat in check. If this game comes down to the wire, I see the Cardinals’ offense coming through this Sunday, unlike last week when they became stagnant in the fourth quarter against the Niners.
      Odds: Jaguars –3.
      Prediction: Cardinals 16, Jaguars 13.

      Continue reading »

      NFL

      What Ricky Rubio can learn from Juan Carlos Navarro

      September 18, 2009 /

      Matt Moore of Hardwood Paroxysm wrote a nice piece about how Navarro relates to Rubio’s decision to stay in Spain for two more seasons.

      The impression you get from interviews with Navarro is that he just didn’t care that much about the NBA. He loves Spain. It’s his home. And versus the States, where there will be constant questions about his style, his ability, and his talent simply because he hasn’t played in the AAU tournaments or Rucker Park or the NCAA Tournament, in Spain, he’s considered mega-successful. Would you rather be a pauper in heaven or a prince in Hell? What if Hell was actually your home, and instead of the brimstone pits, it was nice beaches, beautiful women, amazing food and way more money than you can make in heaven? The assumption that every great basketball player in the world will always have the competitive fire to be the best no matter the cost is, I’m sorry, a gigantic crock. It’s a fallacy brought upon us by Jordan, Garnett, and Nike.

      Moore goes on to discuss how Navarro’s experience might affect Rubio.

      In an interview a few weeks ago, Navarro was talking about giving Rubio advice. You have to wonder how that’s going to play out for Minnesota. From all accounts, which Wolves fans will happily remind you of every thirty seconds, Rubio wants to play in the NBA more than anything in the world. It’s his dream, whatever that means. That certainly wasn’t the case with Navarro, who was always kind of like, “eh.” So even if Navarro is trying to warn him off of going to a terrible team for less money, he may not listen. Plus, the Wolves are in much better shape than the Grizzlies were in 07-08. But the fact remains that everyone talks about Rubio’s game developing as he gets older. What about his personality? What if he learns to really love his life in Spain as he gets older and gets to enjoy being a young man making millions of dollars in an awesome city?

      I lived in Memphis for three years and visited Barcelona on a whirlwind trip through Europe, and I can say that there is a lot of truth to Moore’s words. The NBA is clearly the best league in the world, but the European leagues have improved and the money is about the same (or in JCN’s case, much more). Why would a Spaniard in his mid-twenties choose to take less money to play for a bad team in Memphis instead if playing ball in beautiful Barcelona?

      Ricky Rubio was faced with a similar decision this year, only it was Minneapolis, not Memphis. And he chose to stay in Spain for a while. Will he ever come over? Probably. As the post states, it has always been Rubio’s dream to play in the NBA. He may not play for the T-Wolves, but I think he will eventually join the league.

      NBA, Rumors & Gossip

      Warning signs were there about Crabtree

      September 18, 2009 /

      In an article written by Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports, several unnamed NFL front office people said that there were warning signs before the draft that receiver Michael Crabtree was going to be a problem to sign.

      He wasn’t alone in that cynicism. While public and media sentiment have been overwhelmingly against Crabtree and Parker, all seven executives agreed the impasse marks a significant failure by the 49ers, too. While second-guessing is easy in hindsight, it didn’t stop some from suggesting that they saw a nasty impasse coming as soon as Crabtree slipped out of the top five and then had Oakland’s Darrius Heyward-Bey(notes) selected in front of him at No. 7 – particularly considering Crabtree was represented by Parker, who has a history of holdouts with draft picks.

      “[Crabtree] didn’t even work out for teams, and he still had it in his mind that he was the best player in the draft,” the NFC North executive said. “People were in his ear telling him that from jump street. Honestly, I thought it could have been a problem if Seattle would have taken him [at No. 4]. Then they would have been asking for No. 1 money.”

      Added an NFC general manager: “He was represented by Eugene Parker. That was kind of a giveaway right there.”

      There was a report that surfaced before the draft that Eric Mangini of the Browns was so turned off by Crabtree’s attitude during a pre-draft visit that the Cleveland head coach said that he wouldn’t select the Texas Tech product at No. 5. So obviously there’s a lot of truth behind the notion that the 49ers should have known that Crabtree was going to be a problem.

      That said, what where they supposed to do? Nobody is arguing Crabtree’s athletic ability; he was a top 5 talent that slipped to No. 10 and San Fran had a major need for a receiver. Even if they did think he would holdout, I doubt they believed it would go into the season like it has.

      So yeah, there were warning signs. But I still don’t blame the 49ers for taking a shot on a dynamic playmaker that fell into their laps at No. 10. If they can get a deal worked out, then Mike Singletary can get his hands on Crabtree and hopefully straighten out his attitude. Of course, that’s a big “if” in terms of getting him signed.

      NFL

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